Heads Will Roll
by Gorramit Girl
Summary: Esther's ritual has failed, the Originals are all safe, and Elena is now one of them. Now it's just a matter of waiting for Team Mystic Falls to show up and complicate the day. Secrets will be revealed, lines will be drawn, feelings will be hurt, and renovations will need to be made as Elena begins to adjust to her shiny new life as a vampire. 2nd in the Family Business Series.


**Warnings**: Angst, Character death, Implied incest

**Pairings**: Elena/Elijah, implied Kol/Rebekah

**A/N**: After writing the seething mass of deviancy and shame that was "This Is Family Business," I started thinking about what would happen next, what would the immediate fall-out be? And so I started writing "Heads Will Roll," which made me happy because yay! I love writing Elena Turns Team Original. And then the end gave me an unexpected curve-ball I hadn't thought about and this thing turned into a series. I'm either so very sorry or you're so very welcome. It's entirely up to you. Many thanks to **jedi_of_urth** on LJ for a wonderful beta job. As with "This Is Family Business," this is COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY AU AFTER 3.17. There will be some canon elements in this series, but yeah, AU.

**Heads Will Roll**

* * *

()()()()

Another wall in the Mikaelson mansion was destroyed.

The fact that it was Elena who did the destructing was unexpected. Throwing vampires through walls had always been Kol's thing as well as a constant source of frustration to Klaus, for it always seemed to happen _after_ a renovation. Yet it _was_ Elena and while it was immensely satisfying to see it done (they'd had it coming, really), Klaus couldn't help but be irritated with the fact that there was now another wall to restore, along with the wall, ceiling, and several floor tiles in Elijah's bedroom. (Elijah could buy the damned new bed frame himself.)

The wall was destroyed. He was determined to focus on that particular fact, rather than the events that had led up to and followed it. Some things were too painful even for him.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a commotion from Elijah's room. Elena was crying and he could hear Kol and Rebekah's dulcet tones. He sighed and rushed upstairs, falling in just behind Finn.

What fresh hell was this?

()()()()

_Five hours earlier…_

In the little over three hours since Elena sent out that one massive text Esther, Bonnie, Stefan, Damon, and Caroline had not yet rallied to storm the mansion. They had been expected sooner, but as Finn had pointed out, Esther and Bonnie would be extremely weak following such powerful ("Not to mention gloriously failed!" Kol had interjected.) magic. Klaus had known that Caroline would stick close to Bonnie ("They are, I believe, 'BFFs.") so he hadn't been surprised. The tardiness of the Salvatores, however, they'd all been less than sure on. ("They barely allowed you to use the bathroom unsupervised," Elijah had quipped to Elena dryly.)

Almost three hours had flown by before they had time to start questioning the absence of Elena's friends, but they had put the time to good use.

Three hours had been long enough for Elena and Elijah to deal more damage to his room, ("Klaus will not be pleased," Elijah had said when they fell back against the mattress.) as well as share a bath. Sitting in the steaming water, Elena had drank hungrily from another blood bag, scowling at the amused smile that Elijah hadn't even bothered trying to hide from her. ("You think this is adorable, don't you?")

Three hours had been enough time for Elena to rummage through the spare clothes she'd brought in an attempt to dress herself. Elijah had barely bothered to disguise his scoff; but that could have been more from the fact that Elena was going to be dressed when he'd had her quite naked (and moaning and screaming) for some time, rather than the fact that her taste in clothing wasn't near as refined as his. The textures now felt all wrong against her skin and eventually Elena conceded his point. ("I can't wear these.")

Some of the others had returned by that time and Elena had sheepishly asked Rebekah if she had anything Elena might be able to wear temporarily. Rebekah had pulled Elena into her room and quickly pieced together an outfit for her. ("Just keep them," she'd said. "I'd have to burn them if you gave them back to me.") Elena had to admit that Rebekah had impeccable taste and said as much. Rebekah brushed the compliment off. ("Elijah went through my entire wardrobe the night he undaggered us - he only threw out a third of it. Once, back in 1820, I had to purchase entire new one by the time he was done.")

The shirt was a little big on her, but the leggings had fit rather well. She loped a belt around her waist to cinch the shirt and stepped into a pair of heeled boots Rebekah had handed her. Elena had just finished studying her appearance (Oh, how hungrily Rebekah looked at her!) and running her hands through her drying hair when Klaus summoned them downstairs.

Three hours had also been long enough for a ring to be secured by one of Klaus and Elijah's witch contacts. The dainty silver ring was old, feminine, and set with a small lapis lazuli stone. The silent witch had handed it to her and left after accepting a sizable roll of cash from Klaus. Elena had smiled somewhat sadly at the latest addition to her new eternal life. After she'd slid it onto her finger, Elijah had taken her ringed hand and kissed it softly. (Rebekah and Kol had rolled their eyes and Elena hadn't been able to resist sending a smirk in their direction.)

Then it was just a matter of waiting around for the cavalry to appear, guns blazing.

()()()()

"I'm assuming we have a battle plan for the inevitable shit storm about to come our way?" Kol asked as they settled around the family room with little else to do but wait. Elena had to applaud the ease with which Kol had adjusted to modern slang - Finn was still woefully behind.

Klaus shrugged and flipped his sketchpad open to a blank page. "I hadn't thought too much about it, no." He flexed his fingers and, after grabbing a thick pencil, started to draw.

"Mother's going to be furious," Rebekah said. She paused and looked to Elena before smiling smugly. "You can dish out all the details, Elena."

"Tell them they're all safe from Originals wanting to kill them?" Elena shrugged. "Not a problem." (She knew very well what Rebekah had actually meant.)

"Klaus?" Elijah asked. He sat in the love seat and smiled when Elena promptly joined him. She shimmied closer to his side.

"What?"

"Can you put me in touch with the contractor you used? Some work is going to need to be done in my room." He said it so matter-of-factly that Elena just gaped at him.

"How much work?" Klaus asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. He simply looked... resigned, as if this wasn't an altogether rare occurrence.

"A wall. And the ceiling." He paused and Klaus just stared at him. "A few floor tiles could use some care as well."

Finn snorted into his drink and Elena just put her head in her hands, refusing to meet anyone's gaze.

"Those tiles are Italian marble!" Klaus exclaimed, irate.

"And so shall the replacements be," Elijah replied, still unconcerned.

"That rough, huh?" Kol happily asked Elena. "There's nothing quite like sex for the first time after becoming a vampire!"

Elena groaned and violently shrugged off the reassuring hand Elijah rested on her shoulder. _Elena Gilbert, this is your new life._

"You say your room is damaged. What of the bed?" Finn asked with a smirk.

Elijah, thankfully, remained silent. Everyone already _knew_ - words weren't really needed.

"I'll direct you to a furniture store as well, shall I?" Klaus asked.

Elijah nodded, throwing an arm around an embarrassed Elena and smirking.

_You _chose_ this,_ she reminded herself.

Eventually hunger overtook her and Elena left to find the kitchen. She was pleased to find the bottom drawer in the refrigerator housed a healthy supply of blood bags. She laughed to herself as she grabbed several and leaned against a counter, looking out the window into the not-unimpressive garden. A year ago she would have turned tail and run at the thought of a fridge full of blood being a good thing. Now she found it really quite helpful. It was strange, however, sipping from the bags and knowing that she was stuck with them for the rest of her now-immortal life. Blood certainly wouldn't have been her first choice for an eternal food source.

Kol came strolling into the kitchen and threw open the fridge door. He grabbed two bags out of the drawer, considering both before tossing one back. He winked at her as he pierced the bag and began to drink (with far more restraint than she was currently capable of). "Not one for AB," he said as he sauntered over to her. "O Negative, though, it's a delight."

"It's also desperately needed for blood donations," Elena said. She tried to keep the reproach out of her voice. She really did. She knew there were going to have to be some compromises to her morality in some areas, but still...

"Shame for the people who need it then, isn't it?" Kol grinned darkly and shrugged at her glare. "I wouldn't worry yourself. Elijah makes sure a healthy variety is snatched. He's so... _moral_ that way."

"Elijah is a good man," Elena defended automatically.

"I wasn't criticizing him, believe it or not," Kol said, exasperated. "You and he are so... _adorable_ together. All noble and indignant." He laughed when her scowl didn't drop. "Lighten up, Elena! Have some fun! It's what makes eternal life worth living."

She shrugged, confused at his habit of switching between amusing and psychotic on a dime, and let him guide her out of the kitchen and into the family room. Elijah's eyes narrowed when he saw the hand Kol kept on the small of her back and with a smirk Kol backed off, clearly enjoying himself and his brother's irritation.

"Do you feel better?" Elijah asked her, concerned.

"I think so," she said. "I didn't give Caroline enough credit back when she first turned. I've never been so hungry before. And it's _all_ the time."

"It does get better," Klaus assured her as he sketched languidly. He hadn't been paying much attention to Elena or Elijah until he'd heard Caroline's name mentioned. "Give it time; it's a marathon not a race; and other similar platitudes, Love."

Irritated, Elena threw a cushion at him, hitting him square in the face. Everyone was quiet until Kol started to laugh and threw a nearby cushion at Klaus too. Another cushion smacked him, this time from Rebekah. Finn, who'd stood to get himself another drink, actually snuck up behind him to hit him up the back of his head and Elena laughed merrily.

"Really?" Klaus demanded as he surveyed the damage their antics had caused his sketch. "Really?"

Elijah shrugged and smirked. "As if we haven't cause to do worse, brother."

"Fucking children," Klaus muttered darkly. "Do it again and-"

"Heads will roll?" Elijah teased lightly.

"Lighten up, Klaus," Elena said, unimpressed with his tantrum. Now that he wasn't any kind of a threat to her or her family and friends, she just found Klaus kind of amusing in a pathetic sort of way. Without his hybrid status he was just another centuries-old vampire looking for family and security. And he had a thing for drawing horses, judging by the art hanging on various walls throughout the mansion. She recognized the style as similar to the drawing of the horse she had hanging in her room... But that was unlikely, wasn't it?

For a time they sat together in a companionable sort of way, not doing anything to stir the pot of trouble they'd all thrown together with their actions the previous evening. There was going to be hell to pay when Esther and the others showed up and they all knew it.

"Nik!" They all went still at the urgency in Rebekah's voice. "I can hear them!"

Elena listened carefully, and could pick up Damon's voice. _Just remember, be good little witches and take down all the vampires but the three of us._

Less than a minute later the door to the sitting room flew open and the six of them fell to the floor in agony, clutching their heads.

()()()()

"Stop it!" Caroline shrieked when she saw Elena on the floor. "You're hurting Elena! Stop!"

Esther and Bonnie stopped immediately and Elena and the others sat up, still shaken, though Klaus least of all.

"Cute trick," Damon said. "Tying Elena to you all. Maybe Katherine got the idea from you. She pulled a stunt like that once. It didn't end well for her."

Stefan was staring at Elena with growing horror. Elena could feel the veins rising around her eyes and the newly pointed teeth elongating in her mouth - _fight or flight_. "It's not a trick," he said dully. "Elena's a vampire."

"Which one of you?" Bonnie demanded. The flames that were crackling merrily in the fireplace turned violent. "Which one of you did it?"

"Funny story, that," Kol drawled as he dared to step closer to the fire, just to show her it couldn't harm him. "And I believe the answer may be too complex for some simple minds to handle." He smirked at Damon and Damon reacted instantly, throwing himself at Kol. Kol was too fast for him however and Damon hit the floor, head twisted at an unnatural angle.

"I believe we can be more civilized about this," Klaus interjected. "Why don't we all sit down?" He smiled winningly at Caroline, who rolled her eyes and ignored his offered hand.

"Elena..." Bonnie said softly, tears welling in her eyes. "What have they done to you?"

"Nothing. Bonnie, I did this to myself," Elena said, taking her former spot on the love seat next to Elijah. As much as she wanted his comforting arm around her, she knew why he refrained, and appreciated his tact.

"Elena would never let herself become a vampire," Stefan said with absolute confidence. "She knows better."

Elena's eyes narrowed - he spoke like she wasn't even there. It was grating, how everyone always assumed she couldn't take care of herself. "It was my choice Stefan," she said. She was proud of how even her voice was. "I chose to save them and I chose to become a vampire."

"You never wanted to be one," Bonnie said pleadingly, unable to process the fact that her other best friend was also a vampire.

"I didn't," Elena agreed. "But it was always going to happen, Bonnie. It just took me time to accept it. And this way, it was my choice and not forced on me."

Bonnie sobbed. "I could find a way-"

"I don't _want_ you to, Bonnie. You shouldn't have to worry about me or keeping me safe. It's not fair to you. Everything about this has been so unfair to you and I'm so sorry."

"Elena," Caroline said kindly - bless her moments of tact. "This life isn't what we would have chosen for you. I never would have chosen this for me. I would give _anything_ to be human again."

No one save Finn saw the hurt look on Klaus's face.

"It's not about what you would have chosen for me," Elena said kindly. She understood their concern - she _did_ - but this wasn't about what they wanted. "It's about what I chose... what I wanted."

"You let them turn you into an abomination, Esther said coldly. "You are beyond damned."

"And you're the reason for all of this," said Elena shot back heatedly. "All of this started because you and Mikael wanted to keep your children alive. You selfishly took their lives from them. They never asked for it!"

Esther looked taken aback - no one had ever spoken to her thusly; even her children, save Klaus when he'd killed her in a broken rage. "I made a mistake a thousand years ago in making my children immortal."

"So now you want to kill them, just to assuage your guilt. None of this has been for them - it's all been about you and your pain."

"You bed down with vampires - you have no right to judge me," Esther said.

"You were wife to a vampire," Finn said suddenly. "And lover to a werewolf."

Esther looked to her favored son, a look of utmost betrayal on her face.

"You do not get to list the sins of others and conveniently ignore your own," Finn concluded, before turning his gaze away and effectively shutting her out.

"No one's answered yet - who made Elena a vampire?" Caroline spoke up, albeit quietly.

"All of us," Elijah said. "And funnily enough, none of us."

"That doesn't make any sense at all," Stefan said. What game had they dragged Elena into?

"Like I said," Kol drawled. "It's too complex for simple minds to grasp."

"It appears our dear little Elena is far more clever than any of us, save Elijah, have given her credit for," Klaus said. He appeared to be enjoying himself immensely. "Shame on us, really. We should have known better, what with that Petrova fire and all."

"Elena?" Bonnie asked.

"I drank their blood and mixed it with Katherine's... and mine. Esther was doing her ritual, I died, and when I came back I drank a bag of my own blood." Elena sat back, feeling relieved. She didn't feel it necessary to share the other particulars of the previous evening - one shock was enough - if the rest was revealed Bonnie would probably set the town on fire with Damon happily egging her on.

"The ingredients of the first ritual that created the first vampires," Bonnie mused. "And now the doppelgänger is no more."

Elena nodded. "I'm free of it all, finally."

"But Elena," Bonnie argued. "You're a _vampire_! We didn't lose friends and family we love in order to keep you safe just so you could turn around and become one of _them_!"

"I never asked to be saved," Elena said, frustrated at how none of them understood. "No one ever asked me what I wanted; you guys just kept taking matters into your own hands. It was always okay for you guys to give up everything to save me - but somehow whenever I tried to do the same, you all made me feel like I was a terrible person. All I ever wanted was for you guys to be safe and happy."

Stefan and Bonnie refused to meet her gaze at that statement.

Caroline's voice was positive, albeit forced. "How are you adjusting?" Elena felt a great swell of gratitude to the vampire whose motto was B+.

Elena snorted. "I'm hungry all the time. But it hasn't even been a day yet, so I'm guessing I shouldn't be complaining."

"It gets easier, you just have to focus yourself," Caroline encouraged. "That was the worst part, aside from being kept from your own home, being unable to walk in the sun, and knowing that your friends and family could hate you for what you became."

"Speaking of the sun," Bonnie said shakily. "I'll have to make you a ring."

Elena hesitantly held up her hand, the silver ring flashing. "I have one."

Bonnie arched an eyebrow. "That was fast."

"Believe it or not, Dear," Klaus interjected cheerfully. "Not every witch hates us. Some of you are actually even happy to help us."

Bonnie scoffed.

Damon, who had been listening in from the floor stirred and stood up slowly, shooting a daggered glare at Kol who cheerfully smirked. "So Elena's a vampire and the worst vampires to ever exist weren't wiped off the face of the earth. Am I the only one who sees the positive side to this?" Damon asked, helping himself to the fine selection of spirits against the wall. "She's not the doppelgänger anymore. No more doppelgänger means no more hybrids. No more hybrids means the Family de Freak can get lost. And to top it all off, Stefan is now the proud new keeper of a brand new immortal girlfriend." He threw his drink back and leveled his gaze at Elena.

Everyone stared at him, lost for words. Esther in particular sported an expression so intensely horrified that it was comical.

"Oh, we'll take our leave in a few years or so," Klaus finally agreed, voice full of mostly genuine cheer. "We'll have to eventually, when the good townsfolk wonder why we aren't aging. Also, I lived for a thousand years without hybrids; I think I'll adjust. But I really think Elena would have to object to the girlfriend status, wouldn't you, Love?" he smiled at Elena.

"I do not think she will want to leave," Finn mused, sitting back and enjoying the show. 900 years without such drama was an awfully long time.

"And I don't see how we could ever let her go," Rebekah continued slyly. "She's been such a delight." Elena was shocked at the underlining sincerity in her words. Surely Rebekah hadn't enjoyed the previous evening _that_ much?

"Elena?" Damon asked, his mind running through various scenarios and not liking a single one.

"I'm not leaving," Elena said, standing and approaching him cautiously, like she would an upset and wounded animal. "I'm not going back to Stefan. Or to you."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Damon asked. Then he looked at Elijah, who was watching Elena fondly. "They compelled you, didn't they?" he snarled.

He, and then Stefan, went charging at the still-seated Elijah but Elena quickly stepped into their path and before anyone could blink, sent the pair of them crashing through the nearest wall. Caroline, Bonnie, and Esther gaped at her. Klaus, Rebekah, and especially Kol were regarding her with the utmost admiration.

"We _were_ trying to be civilized about it," Elijah said with the air of someone who had just swatted down a particularly annoying gnat.

Damon recovered before Stefan did and immediately came to face Elena. "They've done something to your mind. This isn't you. The Elena I knew wouldn't have wanted this."

"Or maybe you only knew the Elena you wanted to know," Elena said quietly. She caught his gaze and spoke again, well aware that she was about to cross a line. "You're not going to hurt them or help anyone else who would try to hurt them."

Damon stepped back slowly, eyes widening as he realized what she'd done to him. A raw, aching hurt was evident. He looked at her like she was a stranger. "You're right," he spat, falling into his usual behavior upon being hurt. "I don't know you. And I don't want to know anyone who would pick a family of psychotic murderers over friends and family that love her and would do anything to keep her safe." He started to storm away and was only stopped by Kol's taunting voice.

"I guess you'll never get to have her, then. I'd say you're not missing much, but that would be a terrible lie."

Damon turned to face Elena (who at the moment resembled a deer in the headlights), looking from her to Kol and back to her. Finn was shaking his head and Elijah was glaring at his youngest brother. Stefan looked like he'd never been more uncomfortable in his life. "There's no way..." Damon couldn't even finish the thought. He'd believed Rebekah was just being sarcastic... "Moving from Elijah to Kol, huh? Do you enjoy pitting brothers against each other? Does it get you off?" He asked cruelly.

"Actually there wasn't fighting between any of us," Rebekah said in a bored, smug tone. "Unlike you and Stefan, we know how to share."

"Rebekah." Elijah scolded angrily.

She shrugged. "It happened, we're all alive, and he just needs to get over it and stop throwing fits every time he doesn't get his way."

Elena sat down heavily next to Elijah. Now, everyone knew. She'd never live it down. She started rubbing at her temples; apparently vampires could still get headaches. Wonderful.

"Are you truly implying that she's laid with all of you?" Esther asked incredulously.

"When we drank her blood, it might have gotten a tad bit out of hand," Klaus said nonchalantly.

Caroline gave a nervous giggle and then stifled it at Bonnie's glare.

"She wasn't complaining!" Kol said cheerfully. "She rather enjoyed herself." Elena made a mental note that aside from his family and himself, Kol's greatest love was chaos.

"To be fair that was probably because of the blood loss," Finn mused.

Elena wanted to crawl over to a corner and beg Bonnie to set it on fire. Or beg Bonnie to set Kol on fire - it wouldn't hurt either of them but it would make Elena feel better. This was going far worse than she'd expected. "Do you have anything to add?" she asked Elijah, figuring he should round out her humiliation.

Elijah shook his head. "Our private life is just that - private. And I do believe that the curiosity will be maddening for them." He smirked; Stefan and Damon glared at him.

Esther stood and went over to the table that held the alcohol. She poured herself a drink, downed it quickly, and poured another. "This is history repeating itself," she muttered, running a hand through her hair. "Only now she's involved all of my children instead of just the two."

"Do you hear that, Stefan? Being a vampire slut runs in the Petrova family. I feel a lot better knowing that, because for a while there I was thinking that you and me were special." Damon had barely finished the insult before Elijah moved toward him. He was beaten to the action by Rebekah, who had Damon by the throat and off the ground before Elijah could even attempt to rip his heart out.

"He's just acting out," Elena insisted tiredly. "It's a thing he does."

"Just how many times have you paid the price of his acting out, Elena?" Rebekah asked, tightening her grip on Damon's neck. "His actions, his words; how many times are you going to forgive him?"

Damon tried to sputter something but she just tightened her grip and let her nails dig into his skin. "You know Damon, I really don't like Elena all that much. But she gave her life to save my brothers' and mine and she's with Elijah and that makes her family. You're going to want to choose your words more carefully or I will let Elijah rip you into pieces and watch him do it with a smile on my face." She considered him. "If I'm lucky he'll let me help." She dropped him and he clutched at his neck, gasping. "If anyone else wants to shame her, you can expect the same," Rebekah declared.

"Since when did our lives become the vampire version of a Jerry Springer episode?" Caroline asked to no one in particular.

Elena had to laugh at that - she could remember the summer when she, Caroline, and Matt had obsessively watched the show their parents had forbidden them to view. She caught Caroline's eye and Elena's quiet "You don't know me!" just slipped out. The pair of them erupted into hysterical laughter. Bonnie shook her head, thrown back into a more annoying time as she too, recalled that summer and how it had been nearly impossible to pull Elena and Caroline away from the TV. A few of the others watched the two best friends, lost and unaware of the context.

"I'm curious as to what happens now," Finn said as Caroline and Elena finally settled down. "The doppelgänger's blood can no longer harm us and we are unbound. What are your thoughts, Mother?"

Esther remained silent.

"It's interesting, considering how our death would have killed every vampire descended from us," Kol added. "And the doppelgänger would be dead too, funnily enough, since her bloodline has been tied to ours from the moment you chose Tatia for your spell."

Everyone looked at Esther, who stared back at them defiantly, and then to Elena, who looked horrified. "I didn't know," she whispered. "I swear I didn't know! If I'd... I'd _never_-" Elijah set a comforting hand upon her shoulder and Elena leaned into him, shaking in the knowledge that she could have unknowingly killed three of the people she held dearest if she hadn't been so determined to save Elijah as well as his family.

"How do you two know this?" Stefan asked Finn.

"I know because mother told me of her plans," Finn answered.

Stefan looked at Kol for his answer.

"I once had magic. I may not be able to use it anymore, but I still understand how such things work."

Anyone who wasn't a Mikaelson gave Kol a disbelieving stare. He shrugged; he knew exactly what they were thinking. "All those years, feeling the earth, being one with its power and then suddenly having it brutally ripped away? You'd snap and turn psychotic too."

Bonnie stiffened.

"Oh, right, I forgot," Kol said to her with a false sweetness. "I'm sure your mother will be the exception, since she's special, and all that."

"What do you mean her bloodline is tied to yours?" Caroline asked.

"Her bloodline was linked to ours by magic. We can survive without her, but she can't survive without us."

"What about balance? You can exist without the Petrova bloodline but it can't exist without you? That doesn't seem very fair," Stefan said.

"It does seem unfair, doesn't it?" Kol smirked. "Our power is inconsequential in comparison to what her blood was capable of. She could have done more damage to the balance than we."

"Not just rituals for you guys?" Bonnie asked.

"Her blood would have given quite the supercharge to any magic that used it," Kol said.

"Excuse me, this talk of supernatural batting averages is fascinating, but can we please focus on how Esther the evil momma bear was planning to off all of us instead of just her heathen spawn?" Damon asked. He smirked at Kol. "Not everything's about you."

"No, just important things, like who Elena would rather bed," Kol shot back.

"It appears that we've reached something of an impasse," Klaus said finally. Elena was relieved. - a silent Klaus was never a good thing. And truthfully she would welcome anything that would stop Kol's commentary on her sex life.

"You want to kill us and I'm pretty sure I speak for anyone here who is a vampire - which, judging by the screams I heard upstairs during your little raid, now includes my former hybrids - when I say that we really don't want to die."

Esther looked beseechingly at Finn who met her eyes with a stony look. "I will not help you. Even with all her faults, I loved her; and you took her from me."

"The question still remains: what is our next move? The idea of running for our lives for the rest of eternity bores me," Elijah said. "I can think of many other things I would rather do instead."

"Like Elena," Kol said under his breath.

"Does it really matter if we're all alive?" Elena asked. "Klaus can't break his curse again or make more hybrids. The hybrids he had are all bound as vampires now, just like him."

"You are still creatures not of this earth and nature will not stand for the imbalance," Esther proclaimed.

"But it _has_ stood the imbalance!" Caroline argued. "It's stood the imbalance for a thousand years! Why do you suddenly get to show up and be creator and destroyer? What gives you the right?"

"I am a servant of nature-"

"So is Bonnie! And I don't see her trying to kill anything she doesn't agree with!"

"This is like arguing with infants," Esther seethed. "It is an exercise in futility."

"Are you going to continue to hunt us down, Mother?" Klaus asked. "Are you going to continue this mindless cycle of pain?"

"I will not rest until every vampire is wiped off of this mortal plane. Kill me if you'd like. My sisters will keep sending me back." Esther stood and stared down Elena. "I'll start with you, the girl who wears the face of the whore who ripped my family apart."

Suddenly a bloody wrist was forced against Esther's mouth. She tried to push it away but it was too late - the blood had already entered her system. Esther turned around and looked at her daughter in horror.

"Fair's fair, Mother," Rebekah said darkly. "You granted us eternity; we're just repaying the favor. And I did warn you against speaking of her like that."

Elijah approached her and Esther started to beg. "Elijah, my son, please! My noble son, so fair; you cannot do this to your own mother."

"Noble? What claims have I to either nobility or fairness? In your own words I am an abomination - no better than my siblings." He snapped her neck and caught her before her body crumbled to the ground. Elena could see the pain in his eyes at what he had done. Esther had still been his mother. Carrying her body, he left the room before anyone could comment.

"What are you going to do with her?" Bonnie asked, looking as though she were going to be sick.

"Force her to transition, dagger her, and stick her in a coffin for a few hundred years," Klaus said harshly. "Think what you will, Bonnie, but we take no pleasure in this."

"You killed her once and seemed to enjoy it," Bonnie countered.

"Did I?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You didn't see him when Esther returned," Rebekah said softly. "Or any of us. She and our father killed us and forced this life on us. Then our father spent a thousand years trying to hunt us down and kill us all over again. Our mother lied to us when she returned and promised peace." She looked away and Elena's friends were surprised when Kol hugged her.

"Do you have any idea how it feels to know that you are so terrible that your parents don't want you to exist?" Klaus asked his increasingly uncomfortable audience. "Especially when there was nothing you could do to stop it? Do you know what it's like to have your father force you to pay for the sins your mother committed against him before you were even born?" Klaus looked into the fire. "I felt a great many things when I killed my mother. Hate and joy were not among them." He tilted his head. "There was even regret when I staked Mikael."

Damon rolled his eyes, though it was clear that he, Stefan, and Caroline were all affected by his words - even though none of them had ever truly chosen this, save Elena, none of their parents had easily accepted them afterward.

Elijah returned just in time to hear Damon's plea. "Elena, _come on_! You can't be serious about staying with the Addams Family and their festival of matricidal feelings."

Elena shook her head. "I don't want to leave, Damon."

"Even as a vampire you're completely stupid! You can't trust these people! Did you not hear the part about how their mother wanted all of us dead?"

"Did you miss the part where they killed her?" she countered.

"Should you wish to leave us, we shall not stop you," Elijah said quietly. "Esther will be of no threat to you."

"See? It's the first smart thing any of them have said all day!" Damon exulted. "You saved vampires everywhere! Hooray! Now come home!"

"I want to stay here," Elena said, growing more frustrated by the second. "Elijah's going to help me adjust to all this."

"I'm sure he'd be very happy to," Damon scoffed. "Step 1: learn how to rip out hearts. Step 2: screw over everyone you make a deal with. Step 3: take off your clothes so I can share you with my entire damn family. That sounds super helpful!" He gestured wildly at her. "Just come back home with us! Stefan and I can teach you how to manage this. We'll tell you everything you need to know."

Elena was nearly crying, his words cutting into her deeply. "Is that the only way you'll ever be happy with me? If I'm letting the two of you run my life?"

"We don't want to run your life," Damon said impatiently.

"Then answer this: If I'd stayed human and decided to go to college next year, would you two have followed me?"

"Yes! Do you have any idea how dangerous college is?" He snorted. "You'd be dead in a week!"

"What if I'd met someone, some great human guy who loved me and wanted to marry me, would the two of you have let me go then?"

Damon couldn't answer her. Nor could the silent Stefan, who turned away when she tried to capture his gaze. She could see it in both of them - some small part of them had believed that she would have eventually changed her mind about becoming a vampire... so that she could be with one of them forever.

"Okay, these hypotheticals are starting to hurt my head," Caroline said, obviously distressed at the turn everything was taking. The Elena-Salvatore drama always gave her a headache. "Elena, you need to do what makes you happy. But _please_ don't shut us out."

"I wasn't ever planning on shutting you guys out-"

"Except for the whole 'I think I'll let the Originals kill me!' plan," Damon interrupted snidely. He looked at the Originals; he wanted so badly to hurt them but thanks to Elena's compulsion, he couldn't.

"Because you would have stopped me!"

"You're damn right I would have!"

"And then you and every other vampire would be dead," Klaus explained with exaggerated patience. "And as Kol pointed out, Elena would have died as well. So essentially you're saying that you wanted everyone except Bonnie to die."

"Damon, I am _begging_ you," Elena said pleadingly. "Don't do this."

"Do what?"

"Ruin everything! The trouble is over; I'm safe! No one wants us dead! Why can't you just let it go?"

"She's right," Stefan said quietly. "We don't need to fight anymore. Let it go."

Damon left without saying a word, but the look he gave Elena was raw, pained, angry, and devastatingly sad.

"He'll come around," Stefan assured her. It was the first kind thing he'd said her - he was smiling at her, even. "I'm glad you're still you."

"Of course she's still her!" Caroline exclaimed. "All selfless and tormented over everyone else, feeling like she has to make everyone happy. I just hope some of the old Elena comes out too."

"We'll be here for you if you need us," Bonnie said. "I'm not sure why you're so determined to stay with them, but I trust you."

"You don't hate me?" Elena asked in a whisper.

"How could I ever hate my best friend?" Bonnie asked. "Either of them?" Suddenly she was enveloped in Caroline and Elena's embrace and the three of them were laughing and crying and promising friends forever and causing everyone else to want to bolt from the room.

"We need a girls' night," proclaimed Caroline. "Us girls with chick flicks, ice cream and no men allowed!"

"Agreed," Bonnie said.

"Rebekah?" Elena asked, looking over her shoulder.

Rebekah appeared taken aback at being included. "Girls' night?" she asked softly. "I've never had one of those."

In a blur Kol was unceremoniously pushed out of the way and the three girls were crowding and hugging Rebekah and promising that they'd remedy that.

The men just stood there, all somewhat huddled together, though Stefan was on the fringe of the group. They looked extremely uncomfortable and were looking for any exit possible. Finally Stefan cleared his throat. "I think we should probably get back to Matt and Alaric and let them know what's happened."

The girls pulled away from each other, instantly sober of their giddiness. Elena was distressed, but Caroline and Bonnie reassured her. "Don't worry, we'll have words with them," was Caroline's promise. "They'll see things our way." Heaven help anyone who stood in the way of Caroline Forbes.

The others departed in a flurry of hugs and goodbyes and by the time everything had calmed down, Elena felt incredibly drained. She looked at Elijah and was instantly upset with herself - he was in so much pain from his actions and she'd yet to offer him comfort once.

"Well," said Klaus with forced cheer. Neither Caroline nor Stefan had said goodbye to _him_. "That takes care of that."

"Esther should be awakening soon," Finn said. "She'll be determined to refuse the transition."

"That won't be allowed, I'm afraid," Klaus said. "If anyone needs me, I'll be handling our little situation."

"I'll help," Finn offered, and the pair of then left, grim faced.

Elena was so engrossed in watching then leave that she was surprised to find Elijah beside her, handing her a blood bag. "You're hungry," he said. At her puzzled looked he smiled. "Your eyes changed." Sure enough she could feel the tightness in her face and the pointed teeth in her mouth. "Thank you," she said gratefully, sinking her teeth into the bag and drinking.

"Are you as bored as I am, Bekah?" Kol asked lightly. Rebekah nodded and the pair of them disappeared up the stairs. They weren't fooling anyone.

Finished drinking, Elena hastily threw the bag away in the kitchen (something about using any other trash can felt weird) and sped back to Elijah's side. She took his hand and gently led him upstairs to his room. He was silent and followed her without protest.

Someone - a former hybrid, presumably (and they would have to check and see if the newly-bound vampires were still loyal to Klaus or not) had tidied up. The frame of the bed was gone along with the destroyed tiles. New bedding covered the mattress that was sitting directly on the floor.

He let her lead him over to the bed and had the presence of mind to shrug out of his suit coat and remove his tie. Elena undid the top three buttons of his shirt and the buttons at his cuffs. He sat down on the mattress and Elena knelt to remove his shoes and socks. She undid her belt and stepped out of her boots.

He wordlessly laid back and she settled down next to him. His head rested against her chest and his arms wrapped around her waist. She held him close as he gripped her tightly, hanging onto her as though she were his only anchor in a storm-tossed sea.

"I'm sorry," she whispered against the crown of his head. "I'm so very sorry."

"I killed her..." he whispered hoarsely. "My own mother and I killed her."

"She wasn't your mother," Elena said quietly. "Mothers are supposed to love you. There was no love in her, Elijah. Whoever that woman was, she wasn't the woman who loved her children so much she couldn't bare to let them die."

"She-"

"Can't ever hurt you again, Elijah."

"They saw it happen, too. How are they ever going to forgive me?"

"They already have."

"How can you possibly know?" he asked, sitting up and looking at her.

"Because they love you. You've done everything you can to look after them and keep them safe," Elena said.

Elijah nodded slowly and lay back down, drawing Elena against him and holding her tight.

"Everything will be okay, Elijah, you'll see."

"With all of the blows you have suffered as of late, you are still determined to comfort others," he marveled.

"I don't like to see my loved ones in pain," Elena said. "Especially when I can do something to ease it."

They fell asleep holding each other, protecting and comforting one another and secure in the knowledge that they could face anything so long as they faced it together.

()()()()

The repetitive buzzing of a cell phone woke them. It continued to vibrate, its obnoxious sound like the noise of an oncoming pestilence.

"Will you please see what those miscreants want?" Elijah asked, chest rumbling.

"Don't wanna," Elena slurred tiredly. She'd been having the most delicious dream where Elijah had been rubbing out all the knots in her back and she'd been rubbing against him...

"It's very annoying," Elijah insisted, irritated that his dream of Elena and a massage table had been terribly interrupted.

"Ugh," Elena grunted crankily. "This had better be good." She stood and went over to grab her cell phone out of her black bag.

Elijah watched her curiously as she stared at the screen. Curiosity turned to concern, as she said nothing, made no move to relay a message back. The phone dropped to the floor and her hands were shaking. He was beside her in an instant. "Elena?"

"It's a message from Stefan. D-Damon left," she said shakily. At seeing the hurt on Elijah's face she shook her head. "No, it's not like that. He booked a flight to Denver." Elijah held her as she collapsed into tears. "He's going after Jeremy."

Elijah tried to soothe her, Elena continued to cry, and in mere minutes, Kol, Rebekah and soon, Finn and Klaus came barging in.

_Fantastic._

()()()

**A/N**: Thanks for reading! This series continues with the 3rd installment, "It Split the Night."


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